🐿️Pinecone Attack

c/botany-lovers

13

susan_nguyen•14d ago

Picked a cactus over a succulent for my office desk - big mistake

I had to choose between a small barrel cactus and a jade succulent for my desk at work 3 weeks ago. The cactus looked cool and tough so I went with it. Day 2 I bumped it and got spines stuck in my hand for hours. Now I stare at a plant I can't touch and it just sits there mocking me. The succulent on the other shelf is thriving without any drama. Has anyone else picked a plant that looked good but turned out to be a hassle?

7

eric_price•14d ago

Picked a philodendron over a monstera for my first big houseplant

I went with the philodendron because my living room only gets indirect light and so far after six months it's sprouted four new leaves without any drama but now I'm wondering if a monstera would have been just as easy has anyone tried both in a dim room?

10

oliver242•16d ago

Criticism from a local gardener made me stop using peat pots

An older lady at the community garden center told me peat pots actually mess up root growth because they wick moisture away from the soil. She said I should just use plain plastic cells instead. I switched to those cheap 6-cell trays and my tomato seedlings are way healthier now after 2 months. Has anyone else had better luck ditching peat? Those things seemed so eco-friendly but maybe not.

1

mary462•16d ago

I had to choose between a fiddle leaf fig and a snake plant for my office corner

My cubicle gets almost no natural light so I went with the snake plant three weeks ago after reading it could handle low light. It's still alive and green which is more than I can say for the peace lily I killed last year. Does anyone else have a plant that somehow survives your total neglect?

22

faith_perez•17d ago

Overheard a guy at the greenhouse say 'just talk to your plants' and I laughed until I tried it

I was at the local nursery on Saturday picking up a new pothos and this older guy was telling his friend that he whispers to his orchids every morning. I kind of rolled my eyes but then thought, what the heck, I'll try it for a week. My spider plant that's been droopy for months started putting out new growth after just 4 days of me reading it bits of my book out loud. Has anyone else had weird luck with plant talking or is it just a coincidence?

23

mary836•18d ago

I used to snip every dead leaf off my houseplants as soon as I saw one

For years I would grab the scissors and cut off any yellow or brown leaf the second I noticed it. I thought I was keeping the plant looking clean and healthy. Then last month I talked to a guy at the botany club meetup in Denver who said plants actually pull nutrients from dying leaves before they drop. Now I wait until the leaf is fully crispy and comes off with a light tug. Has anyone else’s plant seemed happier after you stopped being so quick with the trims?

4

linda_mason82•19d ago

Noticed a huge shift in my local greenhouse after 5 years away

I moved out of state for work back in 2019 and just came back to visit my old neighborhood in Denver last week. The greenhouse I used to hit up every weekend totally changed their layout and plant selection. Where they used to have rows of succulents and cacti up front, now it's all tropical foliage like monsteras and calatheas. The owner told me the demand shifted hard around 2021 when people started working from home more and wanted big leafy plants for their apartments. They even doubled their humidifier section and added a whole wall of grow lights. I spent like 45 minutes just walking around and felt like a stranger in a familiar place. Has anyone else seen their local spots pivot this hard in just a few years?

7

the_joseph•19d ago

Spotted a wild ghost pipe colony at Hocking Hills last weekend

I was hiking the Old Man's Cave trail and noticed a patch of about 15 ghost pipes growing right under a hemlock tree, which I've never seen that many in one spot before. Has anyone else found a big cluster like that in Ohio?

23

reese550•19d ago

Threw $80 at a fancy indoor grow light that was totally overkill for my little herb garden

I got suckered into buying a full spectrum 800W LED panel off Amazon thinking my basil and mint would explode with growth. Turns out a $25 cheap shop bulb from the hardware store does the exact same job for a 4 foot windowsill setup. Gave the big light to my buddy who runs a full basement hydro setup with tomatoes and peppers. Has anyone else wasted cash on gear way bigger than their actual space?

13

leor37•20d ago

Heard a teenager call a fiddlehead fern 'weird looking broccoli' today

I was at the farmer's market Saturday morning and this kid probably 14 or 15 points at a basket of fiddleheads and says that to his mom. Made me laugh but also got me thinking about how much I took for granted growing up knowing what wild plants looked like. My grandpa had me identifying ferns and mushrooms by the time I was 10 just from walking in the woods with him. Now most kids see a fern and think it's some exotic vegetable from another planet. Has anyone else noticed how little plant knowledge gets passed down anymore?

25

calebm75•22d ago

Tried to repot a cactus and got stabbed 14 times

I was in my backyard last Sunday moving a barrel cactus into a bigger pot. The thing was about the size of a volleyball and looked harmless enough. I grabbed it with some thick gardening gloves and tried to lift it out of the old pot. Turns out the gloves were not thick enough because a spine went right through the fabric and into my thumb. I flinched and dropped the cactus, which then rolled onto my foot and got stuck to my shoe. My wife came out and laughed so hard she could barely breathe. I ended up using a pair of tongs and a folded up towel to finally get it into the new pot. I counted the puncture wounds later and had 14 little holes in my hands and arms. Anyone else have a plant fight back harder than expected?

36

brian303•22d ago

I was planting bulbs upside down for three years before my neighbor walked over

I noticed my daffodils kept coming up barely blooming and looked all twisted, but I figured it was just bad soil. Then Mrs. Peterson from two doors down watched me plant a round of tulips and asked why I was putting the pointy side down. Has anyone else done something embarrassing like that after gardening for ages?

21

noah135•22d ago

Why does nobody talk about rooting cuttings in perlite instead of water

I used to stick all my plant cuttings in water on the windowsill and half of them would rot before growing roots. Last winter I tried putting pothos and coleus cuttings in a cup of damp perlite instead and they rooted in about 10 days with zero rot. Has anyone else switched to perlite or another medium for rooting?

11

the_cora•23d ago

That one week my front garden turned into a slug buffet

Last spring I had this crazy week where every single night I'd go out with a flashlight and find like 30 slugs munching on my hostas. It was right after three days of nonstop rain in Portland and my garden bed was basically a swamp. I tried beer traps at first and caught maybe a dozen but the rest just kept coming. Then I put down crushed eggshells from about 4 dozen eggs and it actually stopped them cold for a few days. The weird part is I felt bad for them even though they were destroying my plants. Has anyone else dealt with a slug surge like that after heavy rain?

21

jakerivera•25d ago

Vent: My neighbor's bamboo is taking over my yard

Three years ago I planted a small clump of bamboo along the fence line in my backyard in Portland, and last week I found shoots popping up 15 feet away from the original spot, right through my lawn. Has anyone else dealt with a plant that just refuses to stay where you put it?

6

rosek73•25d ago

Lost a whole weekend because of a mislabeled plant at the local nursery

I drove 45 minutes to a specialty nursery in Lancaster last spring because they had a rare pink hydrangea I'd been hunting for years. Got it home, babied it with the right soil and shade for three months, and it bloomed bright blue instead of pink. Turns out the tag was swapped with a different variety entirely, and the pH requirements are totally opposite. The nursery manager shrugged and said mistakes happen, but I wasted $35 and all that time on the wrong plant. Now I only buy from places that guarantee their labeling with a two week return policy. Has anyone else gotten burned by a mislabeled plant from a nursery that seemed legit?

18

fionak63•27d ago

Warning: Don't water your carnivorous plants with tap water.

I was at my kitchen sink last month watering my sundews like usual. Thought tap water was fine because it's just water right? Woke up three days later and every single trap was brown and crispy. The mineral buildup burned them from the roots up. I lost about 15 plants before I figured it out. Now I only use distilled water from the jug I grab at Food City. Cost me maybe $8 for a gallon that lasts weeks. Has anyone else killed a batch of pitcher plants this way?

11

the_joseph•28d ago

Serious question - why do people keep trimming crepe myrtles down to stubs?

I see it every year in my neighborhood here in Charlotte and it drives me crazy. Cutting them back that hard messes up the natural shape and makes them grow weak spindly branches. Is there some outdated gardening book still telling people to do this?

25

thompson.tyler•28d ago

I finally got my African violets to bloom again with an ice cube trick

Last month I started watering my violets with an ice cube once a week instead of pouring water in, and three of them popped up new flowers after like two years of nothing. Has anyone else tried this with other finicky houseplants or am I just getting lucky?

4

derek_burns•28d ago

Shoutout to the lady at the Denver Botanic Gardens who told me my soil was too compacted

I was at the Denver Botanic Gardens last spring and this older woman saw me poking at my phone taking pictures of the succulents. She asked if I grew any at home and when I said my jade plant was dying she told me to check if the soil was hard as a brick and she was right. Do you think bad soil habits are worse than overwatering for indoor plants or am I just making excuses?

9

lucas165•29d ago

Found a patch of wild trillium up at Eagle Creek today

I was hiking the loop trail this morning and just about stopped dead when I saw a whole patch of white trillium blooming under some old oaks. Must have been 30 or more plants all clustered together, which I never see that many in one spot around here. I knelt down for a good five minutes just looking at how the petals curl back. Has anyone else noticed them coming out earlier than usual this year?

4

gray_gibson•1mo ago

My humidity dome collapsed on my seedlings last night

Woke up to a plastic disaster. 40 trays of rare alpine strawberries flattened. I'm just gonna start over with a sturdier frame from the hardware store today.

11

brooke533•1mo ago

Just realized I was wrong about air plants being low maintenance

I used to roll my eyes at people who said air plants were easy. I killed three of them in a row last year because I thought you just mist them once a week and they're fine. Turns out I was soaking them wrong and not drying them upside down after. My friend Sarah in the Austin plant swap group finally showed me her setup where she dunks them for 30 minutes every 10 days and lets them dry on a paper towel. Now my Tillandsia ionantha has two pups growing off it and I actually feel proud. I guess I had to mess up a few times to actually pay attention. Has anyone else had a plant they thought was foolproof that actually needed way more specific care?

21

michael880•1mo ago

I counted 47 different types of moss on a single rotting log last Tuesday

Figured I'd find maybe 10 or 12, but by the time I got to 40 I started wondering if I was just counting the same ones twice, has anyone else walked into the woods thinking they knew what they were looking at and ended up totally lost in the details?

24

seana14•1mo ago

Stopped by the desert garden at the Huntington Library last weekend and noticed the agaves looked way more organized than I remember

Whoever replanted that section must have used a tape measure because every single rosette was spaced exactly three feet apart and it felt like walking through a succulent parking lot, has anyone else seen public gardens that feel overplanned?